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WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING:

"Two of the all-star goalies, Edmonton's Grant Fuhr and Buffalo's Donnie Edwards are good calls, but [Mike] Griffin points out that two equally good ones, Wamsley of the Canadiens and Chico Resch of Colorado belong right up there. "Wamsley (2.79 goals against) has two guys breathing down on his, but they can't get him out now. And Resch. Well, they're averaging eight goals a game this season in the league, and with nobody in front of him, his goals-against average in January was 3.18." (Tim Burke, The Montreal Gazette, February 4, 1982, page C1)

"Possesses good hands and is very quick..has good balance on his skates?performs well under pressure and is good at working with his defense and clearing the puck out of the zone?has tools to become one of NHL top netminders." (1984-85 Official Guide of the St. Louis Blues, p. 36)

Left game with head injury, January 2, 1981. 12:32 into Montreal's 3-1 win in Hartford, Wamsley was felled by a Mike Fidler blast from the left wing. Michel Larocque finished the game for the Canadiens, who came 62 seconds away from a shared shutout. Wamsley, who had to be helped from the ice, was cut for five stitches in his right ear, and had a yellowish bruise on the side of his face. The rookie returned to sit on the bench for the final two periods of the victory.

Left game with head injury, October 21, 1981. At 6:52 of the first period, Wamsley departed after a scramble in front of the net where he appeared to be kneed in the head. "I don't know who it was, "said Wamsley, who returned to the bench in the second period while Denis Herron finished the game for the Canadiens. "I was just coming across and falling to the ice when I saw this guy's knee. There were three or four guys coming in front and I'm not sure who hit me."

Injured knee, December 2, 1981. Wamsley collided with teammate Doug Wickenheiser at the Montreal Canadiens' practice. Wamsley did not play again until January 2.

Left game with groin injury, December 23, 1982. Late in the first period, Wamsley was replaced in the Montreal net by Richard Sevigny.

Left game with bruised hip, January 26, 1983. Late in the second period of Montreal's 7-3 loss to Buffalo, Wamsley found himself in a pileup underneath the Sabres' Mike Foligno, and had to be helped from the ice. Richard Sevigny completed the game for the Canadiens.

Left game, April 7, 1983. According to the Toronto Star, Wamsley "was injured in the second period when a hard slapshot fired by Gilles Perreault struck him in a sensitive area." Richard Sevigny finished the 3-0 loss for the Canadiens.

Twisted ankle, October 20, 1983. Wamsley finished the game for the Canadiens, but Greg Moffett served as the backup to Richard Sevigny on October 22.

Left game with head injury, December 1, 1983. Wamsley was hit on the top of the head by teammate Gilbert Delorme's stick, and required six stitches to close the wound.

Left game with sprained right ankle, February 9, 1984. Seconds after being injured in a goalmouth scramble late in the second period, Wamsley was removed from the game after Vancouver's Patrik Sundstrom scored. Richard Sevigny finished the game for Montreal, a 7-6 loss.

NHL PENALTY SHOTS:

DATE

SHOOTER

GOAL?

NOTES

03/12/1984

Neal Broten

N

12/11/1992

Theoren Fleury

Y

DID YOU KNOW?

Suffered stiff lower back in car accident, January 20, 1982. Wamsley was hit from behind while in traffic, seriously damaging a car that Wamsley had purchased just a few days earlier. Wamsley did not accompany the Canadiens to Philadelphia, and did not play again until January 26.

In a practice early in the 1983-84 season, Montreal rookie Claude Lemieux learned the hard way that you don't mess around with goaltenders. "Lemieux fired a shot at [Wamsley], who was looking the other way. The puck hit Wamsley on the derriere and Wamsley swiung his stuck at Lemieux, catching him on the hand. Lemieux was taken for X-rays. No bones were broken. "I warned him about doing things like that and I do believe he now has got the message," Wamsley said." (Rick Fraser's Hockey Notebook, Toronto Star, October 19, 1983)

According to the 1984-85 Official Guide Of The St. Louis Blues, Rick likes to cook steak and spaghetti (his favorite food) and listen to rock music. "Caddyshack" is his favorite movie, his hobbies include softball and tennis, he was a Bruins' fan growing up, and he admired Gerry Cheevers as a youngster.

On February 13, 1990, Rick was the goaltender who allowed Bryan Trottier's 500th career National Hockey League goal.

Game logs have been compiled using the best information that I can find; for a detailed list of known concerns, please click here. I am always looking for assistance in making these more accurate, and welcome your help. For the 1983-84 season and prior, one of my key sources was the Hockey Summary Project, a tremendous resource and one of the best data collections on the Internet. In return, I have attempted to make these data better where possible.